The Bees just couldn't close the door.

St. Ambrose held leads in the ninth, 11th and 12th innings and let them all slip away in an eventual 17-16 12-inning loss to Roosevelt. The loss ended SAU's year at the CCAC Tournament in Joliet, Ill., Saturday afternoon.

The Bees led 10-5 in the fifth inning of the elimination game and 11-9 entering the eighth. Roosevelt pushed across three runs in the bottom of the frame to grab a 12-11 lead, the Lakers' first lead since holding a 5-4 edge through three innings.

But in the ninth, St. Ambrose (15-26) came right back. Michael Ryan had a one-out single before Andrew Rodriguez and Cole Aughenbaugh drew two-out walks to load the bases. Zach Stroman came through with a single to left to plate the tying and go-ahead runs.

Three outs away from advancing, the Bees couldn't hold on. An error allowed the first hitter in the bottom of the ninth to reach and he eventually came around to score an unearned run to force extra innings.

Peyton Minder had a two-run single in the 11th to put SAU in front 15-13. The Bees had a chance for more but left the bases loaded. Those were three of the 18 runners SAU left on base. And those three left on base came back to haunt St. Ambrose as Roosevelt scored twice to extend the game to a 12th inning.

There, Aughenbaugh lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Jack Cunningham to give the Bees a 16-15 advantage. SAU got two outs in the bottom of the 12th, but with two on, Roosevelt got the walk-off win with a two-run double to left center.

Lucas Benda, the sixth St. Ambrose pitcher of the day, took the loss.

Cunningham and Stroman each finished with five hits in the nearly five-hour game. Cunningham was 5-for-7 with five RBIs and four runs scored while Stroman went 5-for-7 and knocked in three. Aughenbaugh collected four hits and also drove in three. Cunningham and Aughenbaugh each had an RBI as part of a three-run first inning. Roosevelt came back with five runs in the bottom of the frame, setting the stage for the late-inning drama.

Ryan and Mike Coughlin each had two hits.

The Bees lost their opener in the eight-team, double-elimination CCAC Tournament to Olivet Nazarene 3-0 Friday.